SRB - A dream run

ORCHIES (EuroBasket Women/FIBA World Championship for Women) - Serbia's players and coaches are finding it hard to comprehend what they have accomplished the past several days in France.

A team that had the modest aim of advancing from the opening round has reeled off five consecutive victories, including Wednesday's triumph over Italy to clinch a spot in the 2014 FIBA World Championship for Women.

A side that came oh so close to bowing out of the EuroBasket after beginning Group C play with defeats to Great Britain and France is now within touching distance of a medal.

Serbia will face unbeaten Spain in the Semi-Finals on Friday.

National team coach Marina Maljkovic was a picture of calm during her side’s 85-79 triumph over Italy.

Immediately after the game, however, she wore a dazed look.

"We are crazy happy," she said to FIBA.com.

"We don't know what's going on.

“We're very emotional about where we are right now.

"We really don't know exactly what we did."

What Serbia's players did against Italy was show astonishing resolve.

They trailed for most of the game, and they were down five with 1:59 to go after Italy's Raffaella Masciadri made one of two free-throws.

Milica Dabovic went to the other end, though, and hit a three-pointer.

She almost immediately after intercepted a pass by point guard Giulia Gatti, drew a foul and made two free-throws to knot the contest at 79-79 with 1:07 to go.

Jelena Milovanovic then hit a pair of free-throws to put the Serbians in front, and following two misses at the line by Italy’s Kathrin Ress, point guard Tamara Radocaj drove in for a lay-up.

Serbia played with an unrivalled ferocity on defense and the offensive boards, and they were rock solid mentally at the free-throw line.

In the fourth quarter alone, the Blues put Italy's guards under so much duress that they turned the ball over eight times.

Serbia ended up getting 16 points off Italy's 19 turnovers in the contest.

All of the plaudits would be going to Italy on Thursday had it not been for Serbia's full-court pressure and unrelenting defense of Radocaj and Nevena Jovanovic.

Radocaj had three steals and Jovanovic two.

The two wreaked havoc when they were on the floor and never allowed Italy to feel comfortable.

"In the locker room at half-time, we talked about our defense and said that it wasn't as it had been before," Jovanovic said to FIBA.com.

"In the third quarter and especially the last one, we did everything we could.

"Now, we're so happy. The World Championship is like a dream."

Milovanovic, who had a team-high 21 points, came up with one of Serbia's 12 steals.

"Each of us just put our heart out there and gave everything we could," she said.

There was another statistic that showed the desire of Serbia.

It’s not often that a team grabs more offensive rebounds than defensive, yet of Serbia’s 36 boards, 19 came on the offensive glass and that led to 21 second-chance points.

At the charity stripe, Serbia drilled 28 of 34 (82.4%) attempts.

Milovanovic has played in a lot of big EuroLeague Women games during her career, but none of her past triumphs can compare to what she has experienced with Serbia this summer.

"This is so different," she said.

"I'm playing for Serbia, my country, my family and my people, for everyone there who are going to start playing basketball now because before, they were playing tennis or volleyball."

Once Serbia, who are No. 32 in the FIBA Ranking Women, digest what has happened, they will begin to prepare for the Semi-Final against Spain, one of international basketball’s heavyweights of the past decade.

The Spanish women are No. 6 in the rankings.

"We never think about who we're going to face," Maljkovic said.

"We think about ourselves, our game and making those people in Serbia that live hard (proud).

"Wars and all of that, it's a thing of the past but people live hard and for them now, we're so proud.

"We feel no pressure. We're doing this for kids, those girls in Serbia who are going to start with basketball and not volleyball, from tomorrow."

Next year, those kids will be tuning in to watch the Serbians play at the FIBA World Championship for Women in Turkey.

FIBA